Honeybees have an extremely complex social organization, which is why they are considered eusocial animals. They live in a society divided into castes, with a reproductive part and an infertile part. Within the hive, each individual has a certain role or function and it is essential that they be carried out for the good of the hive.
In this article on our site we talk about the life cycle of honey bees, how these animals develop, what is the cycle of the queen bee and what individuals make up a hive.
Life cycle of the bees in the hive
The life cycle of honey bees is closely related to the seasons Thus, activity in the hive begins with the arrival of la primavera Increased daylight hours, rising temperatures and spring rains cause an explosion of life in wild areas. In some warmer areas, a hive may start producing new individuals in January, but it won't be until around May when the peak production
After the summer and with the drop in temperatures that autumn brings, the bees reduce their activity and will spend the winter feeding on the honey produced during the warm months.
Development of a new individual
Queen bees can lay two types of eggs, fertilized, which will give rise to female worker or queen bees (depending on the type of feed) and unfertilized eggs, which will produce male bees or drones.
The eggs are deposited in the hive cells The incubation times of bee eggs and larvae will depend on the type of individual that it will produce. Thus, the worker bees take about 20 days, the drones about 24 days and the queens only need a couple of weeks to leave the cell
Bees are insects with holometabolic metamorphosis, this means that, during their development to adulthood, they go through certain phases where the individual has nothing to do with his adult appearance. When bee eggs hatch, they hatch a larva that must be fed by the workers until they reach a certain size and enter theirstate. pupa
In this phase the individual is apparently inactive, normally protected by a capsule, inside which many changes are taking place regulated by hormones While is a pupa, they will develop the legs, wings and all the organs necessary for adult life. At the end of this stage, the individual's skin hardens and the adult animal emerges.
Biological cycle of the queen bee
The life of a queen bee lasts between 3 and 4 years. When the bee colony is mature enough, that is, it has a considerable number of individuals, the workers begin to feed several larvae with a special food, royal jelly This causes the developing individual to grow as a queen bee, since when fed with this substance, growth is higher than normal in bees. After two weeks, a new queen bee will emerge from cell, which will remain in the hive for a few days before leaving to mate.
Mating in bees is known as a " nuptial flight". The new queen bee leaves the hive exhibiting a dance that will attract males from other hives. With them she will mate several times until she accumulates enough sperm. This queen bee will then swarm with other worker bees and go elsewhere to form a new hive.
Sometimes, if the queen bee that controls a hive falls ill or is unable to perform her duties, the workers will kill her to let someone else take her place, without a he althy queen bee, the hive would be doomed.
The worker bees
In a hive, most of the bees we can find are workers. The life cycle of these individuals is shorter than that of the queen. During the summer they do not usually exceed the month and a half of life, although in winter, due to the low activity and little wear and tear on the body, they can live up to 4 months, all winter.
The worker bees carry out all the activities necessary for the hive to maintain itself, except for reproduction, which is only carried out by the Queen. The workers are responsible for cleaning all the cells of the hive, incubating the eggs, feeding the larvae, collection of honey and pollen, creation and restoration of new cells and be guardians of the hive.
The drones
Drones are the male bees that hatch from unfertilized eggs. Weeks before a hive begins to produce queen bees, males are produced. The only function these animals have is merely reproductive The drones, when they establish themselves as adult individuals, leave the hive and move away to wait for the beginning of the bridal dance They die after mating or, if they have not mated, they are expelled from the hive just before winter begins.
